Before going paleo, one of my favorite grab and go lunches was a steaming bowl of teriyaki chicken and rice — extra soy sauce please…

These days, I just drive on past the Asian fast food joints. No more rice, soy, gluten, MSG … and whatever else were in those things for me.

But that doesn’t mean I’ve stowed away my chopsticks for good. I can still get a terrific teriyaki flavor at home with a little creative cooking.

This recipe is a great example. Moist, juicy chicken baked with a yummy, sticky-sweet teriyaki flavored coating – minus all the bad stuff. Done and on your dining table in about 30 minutes.

The real key to this paleo recipe is the bottle of coconut aminos. Not everyone’s heard of this one – think of it as the paleo version of soy sauce.

Soy sauce is one of those things you should avoid if you’re serious about eating paleo. For starters, it’s made from soybeans, a legume, so that knocks it off the paleo menu right there. But it gets worse. Soybeans contain lecithin that can mess with your body’s hunger and energy signals, so that’s not good. And soy has isoflavones which can raise estrogen and decrease testosterone, not a good thing either, especially for the guys.

On the other hand, nutrient-rich coconut aminos are made from the sap of the coconut tree, and then dried or sometimes fermented. It doesn’t have a coconutty taste, has less salt than soy, and it’s very low on the glycemic index. Plus it’s packed with 17 amino acids, vitamins and minerals – all good stuff your body will love.

Many paleo recipes call for coconut aminos, so it might be smart to keep a bottle on your pantry shelf. Chances are you’ll be using it again and again for marinades, salad dressings, soups, and some other Asian-style dishes. If your regular supermarket doesn’t stock coconut aminos, you’ll probably find it at most of the healthier grocers like Whole Foods or Sprouts.

I hope you give this teriyaki chicken paleo recipe a try. It’s a very simple bake-and-baste kind of dish, with a whole lot of flavor. Serve with cauliflower rice, sautéed veggies, or whatever you like!

Combine all of ingredients (except chicken) in a saucepan over medium heat

When mixture begins to boil, stir for 2-3 minutes

Remove saucepan from heat (Sauce will thicken as it cools)

Season raw chicken pieces with salt and pepper

Grease an 8" x 8" baking dish

Place chicken pieces in the dish and brush on teriyaki sauce on all sides

(Reserve some teriyaki sauce to brush on the chicken after cooking)

Bake in oven about 20 to 25 minutes, basting with mixture every 5 minutes or so

About halfway through the cooking time, turn the pieces over

When the chicken has cooked through (or internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165-degrees) you can move the chicken to top oven rack and switch over to broil for a few minutes to brown the pieces a little if you want

This is amazing and has become a staple recipe in my home! I double the sauce and crock pot it, at the end I add veggies such as broccoli, carrots, much rooms, pretty much whatever veggies I have on hand! Thank you for this great easy recipe!!

Hi! I have tried this recipe with legs and omg it was amazing. I want to do it now with breasts in my slow cooker, do I need to still make the sauce on the stove before putting in the slow cooker or just shove it all in together?

Dear Trina, Sorry I did not get back to you. I was in Italy on vacation. Anyway, I have tried my ceramic pot and it is awesome! I just marinated some chicken in a sweet chili sauce and then dumped it in the pot and into the oven for an hour and a half. It came out delicious. Brown and tasty without any hassle. I wish I could send you a picture… Anyway, thanks for the goodwill.

This recipe turned out wonderfully! There has not been a recipe yet on this site that has turned out bland! I cooked both the drum sticks and chicken breast and they gobbled it up. I served cauliflower rice with it too ;o) xxOoo

Elaina, hi! I’m glad you’re going to try this recipe! I must admit, this teriyaki sauce took me a while to come up with and I’m really proud of it. I have not used the apple cider vinegar with this recipe. I’m guessing it would work well though. I have made this in the crock pot with chicken thighs that I browned first and they were delish! I cooked them 5-6 hours. (Some pots take longer) Turn them over a couple of times during cooking. After, I shredded the chicken and served it with broccoli and cauliflower rice! I just added another recipe with this sauce last weekend. The possibilities are endless! Let me know how it goes!

This looks like the best teriyaki sauce recipe I’ve found yet (and I’ve been searching forever!) One question: I saw you mentioned cooking it in the crock pot instead of the oven. That sounds great! But how long would you leave it in and would you put the same amount of all ingredients listed? Thank you for posting this absolutely amazing recipe!!

Hi Elaina, no don’t worry about browning chicken breasts. They will be just fine. Season them with your usual salt and pepper and you’re good to go. I usually only brown roasts or chicken if it has skin on it like legs or thighs.

Olivia, it’s such great flavor. We basted like you. I have since adapted the recipe to a crockpot for that reason. I will post soon. Once you remove it from the oven give it a minute and top with the sauce. It will be great, I promise.

Leslie, I made the sauce first, then put it in the crockpot with chicken breast. I let it cook until it was almost done, then pulled the chicken apart a bit and let it
sit in the sauce for another half hour or so. I also held in reserve about a 1/2 cup of the sauce for topping later. it was awesome!

Hi Liz! You do need to baste them with the sauce a couple times while baking. Also, you could reserve a some sauce to the side before basting and use it as dipping sauce when you take them out. I’m sorry that happened, I’m glad you liked the sauce!

I searched for a paleo teriyaki sauce and after passing up a couple of really difficult ones I found this and tried it last night. It was so easy and delicious. My time was all accounted for before I started trying to eat paleo, and I’ve had trouble finding recipes that don’t take a whole lot of time and effort and that taste good. Thanks so much for sharing, Trina. I see lots of other great-looking recipes on this site.

Hi Belinda!
Wow, thank you so much for your kind words! You pretty much nailed the reason why I started my site. I try really hard to make recipes easy and with the flavors we loved pre-paleo. I’m glad you enjoyed the chicken!

I made this tonight with thighs…So disappointed I forgot to put the sesame seeds on :(…otherwise, it was delicious! Also, I didn’t have plain sesame oil, so I used hot chili sesame oil and left out the red pepper flakes.

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